Face Value
Authors: Cheryl Douglas
Tags: #cheryl douglas nashville nights next generation series romance contemporary rich successful sexy country music cowboy
Book Seven in the
Nashville Nights Next Generation Series
Cheryl Douglas
Copyright © by Cheryl
Douglas
Smashwords Edition
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Persons, places and
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[email protected]
Face Value © 2013
Cheryl Douglas
Smashwords
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Family Tree
Turners
Trey and
Sierra Turner -
Nashville Nights, Book One, Shameless
Jared and
Elaine Turner - Trey’s parents
Alisa
Turner
- Next Generation, Book One, High Stakes
Coopers
Josh and
Lexi Cooper
- Nashville Nights, Book Two, Fearless
Jay and
Victoria
- Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law /
Nashville Nights, Book Seven, Hopeless
Mike and
Tori Cooper
- Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law /
Nashville Nights, Book Eight, Careless
Aiden
Cooper –
Josh and Lexi’s son / Next Generation, Book Two, Trade
Off
Brianna
Cooper –
Josh and Lexi’s daughter / Next Generation, Book
Three, Game On
Ava Cooper
–
Jay and Victoria’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Eight,
Blown Away
Spencers
Luc and
Marisa Spencer
– Nashville Nights, Book Three, Ruthless
Nikki
Spencer
– Luc’s daughter / Nashville Nights, Book Five,
Relentless
Ryan
Spencer
– Luc and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Three,
Game On
Evan
Spencer –
Luc and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Four,
Burn Out
McCalls
Ty and
Avery McCall –
Nashville Nights, Book Four, Reckless
Anna McCall
–
Ty and Avery’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Five, Fast
Track
Nick McCall
–
Ty and Avery’s son / Next Generation, Book Six, Time Out
J.T. McCall
–
J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Five,
Relentless
Nikki
Spencer – McCall –
J.T.’s wife / Nashville Nights, Book Five,
Relentless
Lauren
McCall -
J.T. and Nikki’s daughter / Next Generation, Book
Seven, Face Value
Derek
McCall –
J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Six,
Heartless
Ashley
McCall –
Derek’s wife, Jay and Mike Cooper’s mother / Nashville
Nights, Book Six, Heartless
–Face Value
Real estate
developer, Lauren McCall, needs a new contractor yesterday. Someone
who’s good, fast, and reliable, but her only option seems to be her
friend’s deadbeat ex-husband. According to her friend, he’s a skirt
chasing, beer drinking, loser who’d rather play pool than play with
his kids, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so
Lauren gives him the job. She just hopes she doesn’t live to regret
it.
Tucker Brooks
knows his new boss doesn’t like him, and he doesn’t much care. He
knows his ex-wife will spew her venom to anyone who’ll listen, and
if Lauren’s naïve enough to believe everything she hears, so be it.
He’s determined to show up for work, get the job done, and avoid
the boss lady as much as possible. If only she’d stay the hell out
of his dreams.
One
“That hothead will be
back in jail inside a year.”
Lauren McCall
nodded and smiled, pretending to be engrossed in everything her
nail technician, Amanda, said. She’d heard the same story a hundred
times before. Amanda’s ex-husband and the father of her two
children was a loser. Yadayadayada.
Lauren had her
own problems: a house not even close to completion, a closing date
looming, and a contractor with a broken arm. She didn’t know why
she was getting her nails done instead of beating the streets,
looking for a new crew hungry for work. But she seemed to have
exhausted all of her options.
“Hey, you
okay?” Amanda asked. “You’re not very talkative today.”
That meant
Lauren must have missed her cue to roll her eyes at the ex’s latest
stunt. Lauren had gone to that spa every other week for five years,
and Amanda had been doing her nails for the past four. Lauren had
learned how to keep her happy. She just had endure the trash talk
long enough for her French manicure to dry.
“Problems at
work.”
Lauren’s
company specialized in restoring old properties. Many she kept and
added to her investment portfolio, but others, like the one she was
working on, she re-sold to avid buyers who still appreciated fine
craftsmanship. Lauren had been in the business long enough to know
she had to expect the worst and prepare for potential catastrophes
on every job.
Amanda slid
Lauren’s hand under the dryer. “What is it this time?”
“The contractor
broke his arm on the job yesterday. When his crew heard he was out
of commission for the next several weeks, they bailed.”
“Why would they
do that?”
“He’s the only
one who can do the work we need on the built-ins and cabinets.
Without that, the project is at a standstill.”
“Huh.” Amanda
blew her blond bangs out of her eyes. “Maybe you should give Tucker
a call. See if he can do it.”
“Tucker?”
Lauren laughed. “You mean your dead-beat ex?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you
hated him.”
“I do.” Amanda
set Lauren’s other hand under the dryer and cleaned her
workstation.
“So, why would
you want me to hire him?” Based on everything Amanda had said,
Lauren would hang drywall herself before she’d consider hiring
him.
“Maybe then
he’d pay his alimony on time.”
Of course.
Amanda wouldn’t have suggested it unless there was something in it
for her. She was a tad self-absorbed, to say the least. “I don’t
think so.”
Amanda dipped
her brushes in nail polish remover and wiped them on a paper towel
before setting them back in their appointed slot. She kept talking
as though Lauren hadn’t said a word. “He always makes the child
support payments on time, but when it comes to the alimony, he’ll
hold out as long as he can. Until I threaten to take him to court.
If there’s one place that man never wants to see again, it’s the
inside of a courthouse.”
Lauren couldn’t
blame him. He’d been sentenced to eighteen months for aggravated
assault on one of Amanda’s boyfriends. According to Amanda, Tucker
was jealous she was moving on with her life and actively seeking a
new father for her kids. Lauren didn’t think it was her place to
point out that the kids already had a devoted father.
“He doesn’t
seem like a good fit, Amanda. I need someone reliable. This house
is already sold firm, but a clause in the contract states if I
don’t have the house ready on time, I have to pay the buyers $2,500
every week it’s past due. The profit margins are already slim
because we had to re-do the electrical and replace the copper
piping.”
Amanda used a
cotton swab to remove a trace of white nail polish from her finger.
“Oh, Tucker’s dependable when it comes to his work. It’s his
personal life that’s a mess.” She leaned forward and lowered her
voice. “Did I tell you he’s seeing Tonya?”
Tonya was one
of the hair stylists at the upscale salon next door.
“Really? How
old is he?” The girl was young, maybe twenty-three.
“Thirty-eight!
Can you believe that?”
“Oh well, what
are you gonna do? The man’s free to date whoever he wants, right?”
Lauren withdrew her hands when the timed dryer shut off, hoping she
would be set free. No such luck. Amanda turned it on for another
three minutes without checking her nails.
Amanda sneered.
“He thought he was free to date whoever the hell he wanted while we
were married. He went out for beers every night after work with his
crew. Like I didn’t know what was going on. My girlfriend, Stacey,
waits tables at Jimmy’s, and she said he used to dance with every
girl in the place before they shut it down.”
Stacey had
worked for Lauren’s father at his bar, Jimmy’s, for the past eight
years, and she’d earned her reputation as a gossipmonger. Nothing
happened in that bar without her knowing about it. “You can’t
believe everything you hear, Amanda.” Lauren suspected it was true
though. Stacey prided herself on getting the facts straight.
“When it comes
to him, I can. I’ve learned one thing about that man over the
years: when in doubt, believe the worst.”
The dryer
turned off again, and Lauren reached for her purse before Amanda
could stall her for another three minutes. She really was a nice
girl, but Lauren couldn’t spare any more time. “I’ll never
understand why you married that guy.”
“He’s
gorgeous.”
As if that was
reason enough. Lauren had met lots of good-looking men who were all
shine and no substance. She’d take a hard-working, honest,
average-looking guy over a hot player any day.
“And he has
this thing about him…”
“Yeah, he’s
sexy as all get-out,” another one of the nail technicians said as
she walked by. “I don’t care how bad you say he is, Amanda. That
boy could park his dusty old boots under my bed anytime.”
Amanda rolled
her eyes. “You say that now, Ami. Six months in, you’d be wishing
you never met him.”
Ami laughed, a
deep husky laugh she blamed on too many cigarettes. “Who said I’d
keep him around that long? I just want to use him to satisfy all my
naughty fantasies.”
Amanda turned
her swivel chair toward her co-worker. “You’ve been fantasizing
about my ex?”
Ami gestured
toward the six other employees milling about the salon. “We all
have.”
Amanda blinked
her bright green eyes. Once. Twice. Three times. “I don’t believe
this. I thought y’all were my friends. Now I find out you were all
hoping you’d be the next notch in my ex’s bedpost.” She
straightened up and fixed them all with a glare. “Nice, real
nice.”
When none of
the women stepped up to defend their position, Lauren decided the
show was over and reached into her purse. She set Amanda’s fee and
generous tip on the glass table. “Um, same day and time two weeks
from now work for you, hon?”